The NFL implemented a rule last week that bars ball carriers from using the
crown of their helmet to initiate contact with defenders in the open field.

Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, called the rule ridiculous.
Fellow Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk called it a joke. Pro Bowler Matt Forte
voiced his complaints, saying football was intended to be a contact sport.
Jerome Bettis and Earl Campbell also chimed in.

“It’s just a natural part of the process of getting tackled,” Smith
argued.

Not in the new NFL. If a defensive player cannot initiate contact with the
crown of his helmet, an offensive player shouldn’t be allowed to initiate that
contact, either. If James Harrison can’t lead with his head, neither should
Adrian Peterson.

And the NFL has made darn sure the James Harrisons can’t lead with their
head.

Last season, the NFL assessed $3.1 million in fines to its players. Defenders
paid $2.47 million of those fines. Twenty-one of those players were fined for
helmet hits totaling $440,125. Not one of those fines was assessed against an
offensive player.

In 2011, Harrison was suspended two games for leading with his head on
tackles. NFL players paid $257,500 in fines for helmet hits that season — all
but $10,000 of it by defenders.

Forte’s right. Football is a contact sport. But helmets were designed to
protect players from that contact, not to serve as weapons in that contact.
Leading with your head makes the helmet a weapon. Helmet-to-helmet contact is
still helmet-to-helmet regardless who initiates the contact.

When defensive players argued that they’ve been tackling that way for years,
that it’s the way they were taught, the NFL didn’t listen. And the league isn’t
going to listen now when offensive players talk about how running with your head
down is natural and instinctive, that you need to lower your head to protect
yourself.

The NFL has no problem with the protection part in the tackle box along the
line of scrimmage. It’s the assault part in the open field that’s going to draw
the penalty flags and fines.

There were two plays in particular that captured the NFL’s attention last
fall.

Browns running back Trent Richardson lowered his head in the open field at
the end of a 9-yard gain and initiated helmet-to-helmet contact with Eagles
safety Kurt Coleman, bowling him over and knocking off his headgear. There was
no flag.

Seattle’s Michael Robinson did the same in a game against Chicago, lowering
his head at the end of a 13-yard swing pass and goring cornerback Tim Jennings,
leaving the defender crumpled and injured on the field. Again, there was no
flag.

“We know there is going to be helmet-to-helmet contact,” said St. Louis Rams
coach Jeff Fisher, a member of the NFL competition committee that recommended
the rule change. “The running back has an opportunity to protect the football,
lower the head, lower the shoulder as long as he doesn’t load up and strike with
the top of the helmet.

“You can still deliver a blow with your shoulder, face and hairline — just
not the crown. This is not going to change the game. It is not going to be
over-officiated. We are just protecting the players against themselves.”

And leveling the playing field a bit.

On the first Dallas play from scrimmage in the New Orleans game last
December, Tony Romo threw a swing pass to DeMarco Murray. He was alone in the
flat against linebacker David Hawthorne, and the play loomed as lost yardage.
But Murray lowered his head, initiated helmet contact with Hawthorne and
steamrolled the defender on the way to a 5-yard gain.

When replays were shown on the world’s largest Jumbotron at Cowboys Stadium,
the crowd roared its approval. I wondered then why that wasn’t considered
helmet-to-helmet contact.

It is now.

Clearly, these rule changes are a reaction to present and future lawsuits
piling up against the NFL for concussion-related injuries. If the NFL can
eliminate concussions, it can eliminate the lawsuits. You eliminate concussions
by limiting the number of head shots in a game. Forcing both offensive and
defensive players to lead with their shoulders and not their heads is a step in
that direction.

Fair is fair, though, Emmitt. If defensive players can no longer lead with
their heads, neither should offensive players. Regardless of the position.

Listen to Rick Gosselin at 10:50 a.m. Tuesdays on The Ticket
(KTCK-AM 1310) with Norm Hitzges, and follow @RickGosselinDMN on
Twitter.

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.

About Rick Gosselin

MOST UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE ON THE JOB:
Sitting at the hotel bar with Jerry Jones that night in Orlando, Fla., in March 1994 when he decided he'd had enough of Jimmy Johnson as coach of the Cowboys.

SOMETHING PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME:I played hockey for a media all-star team in Detroit and once scored a goal against the Detroit Red Wings Old-Timers in a charity game at Olympia. As a high school player, I once scored a hat trick in a game at the Olympia. Love those "Original Six" buildings.

IF I HAD TWO SPARE HOURS, I WOULD:Take a golf lesson and learn how to hit a driver.

MOST MEMORABLE SPORTING EVENT I'VE COVERED:Impossible to pick just one, so I'll give you five, in no particular order:
- 1, My first Super Bowl - X between the Cowboys and Steelers.
- 2, 1983 NCAA basketball championship game between North Carolina State and Houston.
- 3, 1984 Orange Bowl between Miami and Nebraska.
- 4, 1971 baseball All-Star Game in Detroit, where all the future Hall of Famers homered and Reggie Jackson banged one off the light tower.
- 5, Speedskater Bonnie Blair's world-record sprints at 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
- Honorable mention: Troy Aikman's first college start as a freshman at Oklahoma against Kansas. (He lost.)

Hometown: Detroit

Education: Graduated from Michigan State in 1972, then spent two years working news for United Press International in Detroit, two years working for UPI sports in New York, nine years working as UPI's Midlands sports editor in Kansas City, four years as Chiefs/NFL beat reporter for the Kansas City Star, two years as Cowboys writer for The Dallas Morning News and 12 years as the NFL writer for The News.